Walden.Notes 瓦尔登湖英文版读书笔记

2021年1月25日发(作者：发蜡)

Walden (Henry David Thoreau)
Chapter 1: Economy
2013-11-5

Quote:

The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we
exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?
Comment:

Thoreau mentioned in the first chapter that he had weaved a kind of basket of a
delicate
texture,
but
he
studied
rather
how
to
avoid
the
necessity
of
selling
them.
Maybe Thoreau thought not a successful life was
pleasant, but a simple, plain and
independent
life
was
what
he
pursed.
Many
other
people
had
eager
for
success,
while Thoreau just wanted to know what was really essential in life through his self
labor.


Quote:

They
were
pleasant
spring
days,
in
which
the
winter
of
man
’
s
discontent
was
thawing as well as the earth, and the life that had lain torpid began to stretch itself.
Comment:

I have quoted this sentence just because I think it is beautiful and that distinguishes
a
literary
giant
from
those
online
writers
in
China
today.
In
terms
of
this
aspect,
I
think nobody could compare with him in describing natural beauties because he was
closest writer to the nature.

Quote:

In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one
’
s self
on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely: as the
pursuits
of
the
simpler
nations
are
still
the
sports
of
the
more
artificial.
It
is
not
necessary
that
a
man
should
earn
his
living
by
the
sweat
of
his
brow,
unless
he
sweats easier than I do.
Comment:

Thoreau maintained himself solely by the labor of his hands, and he found that only
by working about 6 weeks in a year could he meet all the expenses of living. So, you
see, we can do a simple person, need peace and persistence. Although many people
live a humble and mediocre life, they are really content and happy.

Quote:

Endeavor to become one of the worthiest of the world
…

Comment:

We
may
first
be
as
simple
and
well
as
Nature
ourselves.
We
know
that
even
the
prophets and redeemers had rather consoled the fears than confirmed the hopes of
man, so we don
’
t need to be an overseer of the poor but live a worthwhile life, he
spent 6 weeks a year working and did what attracted him just like literature in the


rest time. He didn
’
t waste the time but devoted himself to writing and the research
into nature.

Chapter 2 Where I live, and what I lived for
2013-11-6

Quote:


I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds; not by having imprisoned one , but
having caged myself near them.
Comment:

Thoreau lived in Nature, and that was his answer to where he lived.
Unlike many
people who raise birds in their homes, Thoreau put himself in nature and lived close
to the birds. People need freedom and the same with the birds, with all the creatures
in the earth. I am jealous of
Thoreau’
s tour of Walden.



Quote:

One value even of the smallest well is, that when you look into it you see that earth
is not continent but insular.
Comment:
Thoreau wanted to tell us that we should go outside of our own world and take a
look
at
the
outer
world
or
we
should
sometimes
treat
the
things
around
us
from
another angle


Quote:

Every
morning
was
a
cheerful
invitation to
make
my life
of
equal
simplicity,
and
I
may say innocence, with Nature herself.
Comment:

Thoreau was a sincere worshipper and he believed in getting up early. He knew that
“
renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and forever again.
”
A person who
has a dream won
’
t lie in, which is what our teacher has told us, and I think
Thoreau’
s
dream was to be himself, to discover his conviction and realize it.



Quote:

That man who does not believe that each day contains an earlier, more sacred and
auroral
hour
than
he
has
yet
profaned,
has
despaired
of
life
,and
is
pursuing
a
descending and darkening way..
Comment:

All intelligences awake with the morning and we must believe that we will do better
today
than
we
did
yesterday.
Thoreau
again
convinced
us
of
the
importance
of
cherishing the present.

Quote:

To be awake is to be alive.
Comment:



Brief as it is ,this sentence really expresses
Thoreau’
s determination to stay awake.



2013-11-7

Quote:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential
facts of life, and see if I couldn
’
t learn what it had to teach, and not , when I came to
die , discover that I had not lived.
Comment:

Thoreau used the word
‘
deliberately
’
to show that he did not want to waste any and
second in life. He has said he wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.
Thoreau
spent
4
hours
a
day
strolling
and
to
keep
vigorous
and
another
4
hours
reading all kinds of books. He endeavored to be a worthy man.


Quote:

If
we
are
really
dying,
let
us
hear
the
rattle
in
our
throats
and
feel
cold
in
the
extremities; if we are alive, let us go about business.

Comment:

Be it life or death, we only crave reality.
I thought Thoreau had told us not worry
about the death because what mattered was what we had done
before our death.
When we are alive, we should make the greatest use of every minute.


Chapter 3 Reading


Quote


My
residence
was
more
favorable,
not
only
to
thought,
but
to
serious
reading,
than a university.
Comment:

I
can
’
t
believe
Thoreau’
s
saying
that
his
cabin
would
be
better
than
a
university
because his cabin was unable to compare with a university in the collection of books.
Contrary to people
’
s thinking, Thoreau wasn
’
t caged in the cabin and he always went
to the
towns and
connected
with his friends
so that
he had
more than ever
come
within
the
influence
of
those
books
which
circulated
around
the
world.
The
only
reason I think is that the peace and solitude made Thoreau buried in his reading.

Quote:

Reading is a noble intellectual exercise.
Comment:

That
’
s
Thoreau’
s attitude towards reading.

Chapter4 Sound

Quote:


I love a broad margin to my life.
Comment:



I guess Thoreau preferred a leisure life to a busy one and then he could arrange
the time according to his own will, putting the toil of earning his living behind himself.
He loved reading and doing research into Nature.

Quote:

They were not time subtracted from my life, but so much over and above my usual
allowance. I realized what the Orientals mean by contemplation and the forsaking of
works.
Comment:

Sometimes when we forsake the work at hand and lose ourselves in deep thought,
we will find we achieve more than we get through the mechanical work. Thoreau was
sure to benefit from the contemplation.

Quote
：


A
man
must
find
his
occasions
in
himself.
The
natural
day
is
very
calm,
and
will
hardly reprove his indolence.
Comment:


Quote:

If they could be naturalized without being domesticated, it would soon become the
most famous sound in our woods.
Comment:

Thoreau advocated that all the animals should not be domesticated and the nature
is their real home. It indicated
Thoreau’
s conviction of freedom, not only concerning
humanity but also all the creatures in the earth.

Quote:

I heard a fresh and tender bough suddenly fall like a fan to the ground, when there
was not a breath of air stirring, broken off by its own weight.
Comment:

This description is so vividly that I seemingly see the scenery with my own eyes.

2013-11-10
Chapter 5 Solitude


Quote:

There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature and
has his scenes
still
…
while I enjoy the friendship of the seasons
I trust that nothing
can make life a burden to me.
Comment:

Thoreau believed that the nature was the most fabulous and when we live in the
midst of the nature we would live life up. Those tough labors at first faded in the face
of the sweet nature, and he loved it.



Quote:

I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one
another
……………
..Solitude
is
not
measured
by
the
miles
of
space
that
intervene
between a man and his fellows.

Comment:

Society
is
commonly
too
cheap,
Thoreau
wrote
like
this
in
his
book.
Maybe
someone wonders how the students can sit alone in the house all night and most of
the day without ennui and
“
the blues
”
and how Thoreau lived alone near the Walden
Pond for 2 years and 2 months. Actually, a man thinking or working is always alone
and the real diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as
solitary as a dervish n the desert. We friends meet at very short interval, not having
had
time
to
acquire
any
new
value
for
each
other.
Thoreau
thought
the
communication of hearts mattered more than the society.

2013-11-13
Chapter6 Visitors


Quote:
I
had
withdrawn
so far
within
the
great
ocean of
solitude,
into
which
the
rivers
of
society empty, that for the most part, so far as my needs were concerned, only the
finest sediment was deposited around me.
Comment:

When Thoreau lived in the woods, he had more visitors than at any other period in
his life. His company was winnowed by the mere distance from town, fewer coming
for trivial business. And Thoreau thought they might be his true friends.


Quote:
He suggested that there might be men of genius in the lowest grades of life, however
permanently
humble
and
illiterate,
who
take
their
own
view
always,
or
do
not
pretend to see at all; who are as bottomless even as Walden Pond was thought to be,
thought to be, though they may be dark and muddy.
Comment:

His
interesting
visitor
had
a
deep
discussion
with
Thoreau,
and
his
thinking
was
primitive
and
immersed
his
animal
life.
He
was
expert
at
arithmetic,
which
he
supposed to contain the abstract of the world. He particularly reverenced the writer
and the preacher although he himself was almost illiterate. Thoreau believed he lived
in the lowest grades of life, he was really a genius.

Chapter7 The Bean-Field

Quote:

Bread may not always nourish us
；
but it always does us good , it even takes stiffness
out of our joints, and makes us supple and buoyant, when we knew not what ailed us,
to recognize any generosity in man or Nature, to share any unmixed and heroic joy.